We needed to get from southern Thailand to Laos quickly. The best option we found was to fly from Phuket to Udon Thani, and then cross the border by land into Vientiane.
Because Udon Thani is not a big tourist draw (the highlight is dancing plants) we had limited accommodation options and ended up booking Tanita Lagoon Resort. The taxis at the airport insisted on charging an exorbitant price for the 5km ride so we found a tuk tuk down the street instead. He gave us a good price… but… well, finding the resort became quite the adventure. At first we were confused as to why we were going in the opposite direction of the hotel. And why were we going through the city center? Then our driver took us to a completely different hotel but it’s not what you think. He wasn’t a tout. He was just as confused as we were and wanted to get directions. Twenty minutes of talking and making phone calls later and we were back in the tuk tuk retracing our route. (Okay, actually I stayed in the tuk tuk the whole time and tried to guess which of the Western men exiting the hotels were sex tourists. While I was waiting I read the Lonely Planet blurb and learned Udon Thani is a popular spot with those guys.*)
It’s beginning to get dark and at this point we are outside of town on a busy highway. It seems like we are getting close but no. We’re still lost and Mike is now bleeding in his shoe after discovering a mysterious cut on his foot. More phone calls, a few trips up and down the highway, and a stop at a gas station for directions gets us a bit closer. Finally, after asking at another hotel a woman on a motorbike escorts our tuk tuk the rest of the way to the resort in the dark. Phew. We made sure to pay our tuk tuk driver triple for his trouble.
Later in the evening while I was looking over our paperwork, I noticed a very interesting email from the resort. “Dear Sir, please inform us what time your plane will be arriving. We offer FREE AIRPORT PICK-UP!” (empahsis added). Oops! I’m not sure how that escaped us but…at least we got a tour of the city!
While there isn’t much to do in Udon Thani (if you’re not a sex tourist), the Tanita Lagoon Resort is really lovely. The hot water didn’t work when we arrived but the proprietor and the handyman quickly fixed it, smiling the whole time. The room was clean, comfortable, and spacious. Dinner was served on our front porch and breakfast was delivered there the next morning as well.
As we were leaving for the bus station we were asked to pose for photos with the resort’s sign. I love that. It always makes me laugh and remember that real people run these hotels and guesthouses. (Although, I just looked and sadly we are not featured in their gallery!)
But this next part is my favorite. The hotel not only drove us to the bus station but to our actual bus. He pulled up 8 feet from the bus, ordered our tickets, and told us to come see him again soon. All we had to do was walk up the steps and find our seats. I was tickled. Such great service.
So while I doubt too many of you will find yourselves in Udon Thani, if you do, check out the Tanita Lagoon Resort, (and remember they offer free airport pick up!).**
xo, jill
*”…Udon sees relatively few foreign travelers other than a large number of sex tourists.” -LP
**This isn’t a paid commercial. I just genuinely enjoyed this property and the proprietor.
Your little bungalow looked gorgeous!
So funny that you wound up in Udon Thani because I’ve been doing a lot of Thailand research at the moment and this was one of the cities I flagged to go back and research more! Sounds like a sleepy little getaway, but nice nonetheless!
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Great post – had to laugh so much! When we traveled from Thailand to Laos almost 3 years ago we took the same route: flying in from BKK to Udon Thani, then walking across the border, catching a local bus on the laotian side to Vientiane. We arrived in Udon Thani also at night, learning that all the hotels I had noted down where flooded from the nearby mekong. stayed one night, had a nice dinner and left the next day for aLaos
Looking forward to see how you liked Laos! xx
It would probably be a good place to rest up since there isn’t much to do. You wouldn’t feel like you were missing out on something if you chose to just have a lazy day.
It was! A big step up from the other bungalows we had on the trip!
I found it amazing you referenced sex tourist three times in a post about Udon Thani! The airport here is a former US military base from Vietnam war period. There are about 3500 foreigners living here from either that period or in my case their parents were here during that period. Most of us are not sex tourist and this is a considerable expat population for the northeast and brings additional visitors here too. Until recent development (all for Thai people and Asian expats) there was barely even a single street for sex tourism. Now there are two tiny areas and it is still 80% their customers are Thai. And it also very remote areas. It probably has the least sex tourism of any Thai city of its kind. We are the second fastest growing housing market, we have international schools. As for nothing to do. Movie theater, bowling, multiple major shopping mall, outdoor shopping plaza (UDTown), several weekend markets, historical sites. Accommodations: at Agoda I just entered Udon Thani into Agoda for tomorrow (ex: short notice) and is 111 options. We have tons of hotels here. Now unless you were staying nutty park or the day & night area across from Bangkok Hospital, umm probably 90% of the westerners coming out of the hotels were NOT sex tourist (there is specific hotels for that right next to the bars and you were likely not passing those).
Thanks for your comment, Jim. As I referenced in the post, I was going off of the information in my guidebook. It’s nice to hear from someone with a different perspective and insider information. It sounds like LP did not give Udon Thani an accurate description. In terms of hotels, it’s great there are so many options. We visited two years ago and primarily book via hostelbookers (which only shows 4 options). I don’t remember the details other than we had a tough time finding a place and ended up booking a very nice resort-like hotel.